Procurement · 2026-07-07
How Do You Actually Compare Three Cleaning Quotes?
Key Takeaways
- Bids are usually not comparable as received. One quotes per visit, one per month, one 'per clean' — convert everything first.
- The most useful question in the process: how many cleaner-hours per visit is this priced at? For 5,000 sq ft the answer should be 1.2–1.8.
- Use 21.7 visits per month for five-night service, not 20. The difference is about 8% of your annual spend.
- Compare scope exhibits, not cover letters. A cheap bid is usually cheap because three lines are missing.
- A slightly cheaper price on a 24-month auto-renewing contract with a 120-day notice window is not cheaper.
Three quotes arrive. They are 40% apart. Nothing about them is directly comparable, and the cheapest one is probably the one that will disappoint you. Here is how to fix that in about twenty minutes.
Check One: Are These Even in the Same Units?
Ask every bidder for three numbers: price per visit, visits per month, and total monthly. You will discover that at least one of them quoted monthly and one quoted per visit, and that at least one used 20 visits a month for five-night service when the correct figure is 21.7.
That 4.33-weeks-per-month detail is the most common arithmetic error in cleaning proposals, and it is worth about 8% of your annual spend.
Check Two: What Is the Cost per Square Foot?
Divide price per visit by your square footage. Now all three bids are one number and the outlier is obvious. The normal band for Manhattan Class B and C is $0.12–$0.28 per square foot per visit. Below $0.10, something is missing. The full cost guide.
Check Three: How Many Labour Hours Is This?
This is the question that separates estimators from guessers. Ask: how many cleaner-hours per visit is this priced at?
A 5,000 square foot office at a standard production rate is roughly 1.2 to 1.8 hours. If a bid implies 0.6 hours, the scope will shrink by month three — not because anyone is dishonest, but because the arithmetic will not support the promise. A bidder who cannot answer has not estimated your job; they have looked at your square footage and named a number.
Check Four: Line up the Scope Exhibits
Not the cover letters. The exhibits. Put them side by side and look for what is missing rather than what is present. The usual absentees: interior glass, baseboards, high dusting, appliance interiors, weekly full-coverage vacuum under desks, and any periodic work at all.
A cheap bid is usually cheap because three lines are missing. Here is a complete scope matrix you can use as the reference.
Check Five: Read the Term, the Notice and the Renewal
A slightly cheaper price on a 24-month auto-renewing agreement with a 120-day non-renewal window is not cheaper. It is a longer commitment at a worse escape ratio.
What you want: 12 months or less, 30 days' termination for convenience either way, renewal to month-to-month rather than a fresh annual term, escalation capped at CPI or 3–5%, and no early termination penalty beyond one month's fee. The full clause table, with red flags.
Check Six: Who Employs the Cleaners?
Not who supervises them. Who signs their paycheque. If any part of the work is subcontracted, you want that disclosed in writing, because a subcontractor is generally not covered by the prime's liability policy unless properly endorsed — which means the certificate you filed with your building may not cover the person actually in your office. Why this is your problem too.
And One Bonus Question
Ask each bidder to show you an actual inspection report from a comparable account, redacted. A vendor with a real quality programme has these in a folder and will send one within the hour. A vendor without one will describe a process instead. That single request tells you more than three reference calls.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should we always take the lowest bid?
Only if it survives all six checks. In this industry the lowest bid is usually lowest because the labour hours are lower, and labour hours are the service. Weight price at around a third of your decision, not all of it.
How many quotes should we get?
Three is plenty. More than that and you are spending more of your own time than the price difference is worth.
What if a vendor won't do a walkthrough?
Disqualify them. Pricing a commercial cleaning job without seeing the space is guessing, and the guess gets corrected later, in your favour never.
Ready for a Cleaning Contract You Can Actually Read?
Send us your square footage and how many nights you need. You get a written scope, a fixed monthly price, and the SLA in the same document — usually within two business days.